Quinnipiac University adds silent wind power

Mariah Power's Windspire vetical-axis turbines, which run silently, are available in custom colors to make them more pleasing to the eye.

(Credit: Mariah Power)

Some new sculptures at Quinnipiac University will soon provide students with more than just eye candy.

The university has hired Mariah Power to install 42 of its silent Windspire wind turbines for the gardens of its York Hill campus in Hamden, Conn., which are currently under construction.

Mariah Power produces small wind turbines in the $4,000-$5,000 range for use in residential and commercial properties.

All together the 42 wind turbines for Quinnipiac should provide about 84,000 kilowatt-hours of power per year to the campus, according to a university statement.

"The Windspire provided both a distinctive look for our gardens, and a real source of clean, renewable energy....We are very conscientious about the environment, and by employing smart environmental practices like this, we can engage students in thinking about environmental responsibility, and challenge them to be a part of the solution," John L. Lahey, president of Quinnipiac University, said in a statement.

No word on whether the Windspires, which are available in custom colors, will be done in Quinnipiac blue and gold.

Mariah Power's claim to fame is that its Windspire vertical-axis wind turbines, which don't use traditional propellers to capture wind energy, are able to operate noise-free.

[Pishkado]

If each turbine produces 2,000 KWh/year (a zero seems to have been left out of "84,00" in the article; I'm guessing that the comma after "84" is in the right place), and electricity costs 20¢/KWh, it saves about $400/year for an ROI of 8 to 10 percent. Not bad, if you have the cash available - assuming the prices have some relationship to the resources consumed in generating the electricity and manufacturing the turbine, that installation costs are either trivial or included in the cost figure, and that a turbine has a lifetime of at least a decade with little or no maintenance. The economic incentive to install these is only going to get better in the long run, as turbines move down the learning curve and electricity off the grid gets more expensive.

[sanenazok]

Where's electricity 20 cents/KWh? In Chicago, with an indicted governor, it's 10 cents per kWh. Maybe if you're paying twice as much it's time to have the feds investigate your utility. The 2000 kWh number is the company's best case estimate...and independent testing is "pending." The only reason why this has any chance is like you put it...government tax incentives. Hah and it comes with a five year warranty. So the ROI is likely zero.

[mcholyg]

why aren't these things being installed around every govt. office, every school, every public park, adding to the grid? they should be EVERYWHERE!

furthermore, why isn't every streetlight, govt. office light, etc. being upgraded to LEDs?

[sythara]

And who is going to pay for the upgrade? You? Me?

In most cases the upgrade costs more than the savings over 10 years, and no politician who is only in office for few years will ever authorize that soft of expence (unless you're in California, of course)

[texaslabrat]

@sythara

Well, it depends on how you do it. In Austin, all of the traffic lights were upgraded to LED as part of the normal bulb replacement process...bulb burns out, replace with LED modcule. So, the labor was already "paid for"...since the bulbs would have to be replaced no matter what. Going forward, the energy savings PLUS the extended life of the LED modules in contrast with the incandescent bulbs they replaced (saving labor costs in addition to the replacement costs of the bulbs) have shown a significant overall cost savings to the city. The savings are there..just have to be smart on the implementation process.

[dbargen]

No no, it's not an eyesore... It's "sculptural..."

I wonder just how safe these are in high wind, mounted at that height.
How about susceptibility to damage from college kids playing ultimate, football, soccer, etc. in the park.

There are much better (effective) vertical turbine designs out there. Sorry, but none of them, including this one, could be called "sculptural."

[sythara]

It does look rather ugly. I guess the silent part has alot to do with its design though,. I wonder what its max rotation speed is, after all it could cause some serious damage or injury,.

[sanenazok]

Max rotation speed is 500 RPM.

[texaslabrat]

Nice concept..and I'm all for renewable energy...but the ROI on these things is WAY out of whack. $4000 (does that include shipping/installation?) for 2000 kWh per YEAR? Are you kidding me? Unless you live on a windy mountain peak, or somewhere that has perpetual cloud cover, you'd be much better off going solar, comparing apples to apples. The 2000 kWh figure is based on a 12mph average wind speed...Chicago has about 10.4 mph average for reference..so it would actually be worse than 2000 kWh for most parts of the country !

Mariah Power needs to figure out a way to double the power-output/cost ratio if they even want to be included in the conversation at this point. Hopefully they (or someone else) can do it...as I think "personal" wind generation that makes sense from a cost/benefit perspective would be a very valuable addition to our national energy portfolio.

[Joe Real]

The small wind turbines have simpler and far fewer parts than washing machines. Why they cost more than ten times as much is beyond reason. All the parts of a wind turbine, magnets, wiring, structural frame like tubes, metal or composite blades can be produced en masse, and very cheaply too. I guess, someone's greed takes priority because you're going green. There's only one letter difference between greed and green.

[LinuxRules]

This company only started selling unit last year or so and $4k is only for the unit, not shipping and installation. Check their site out.